A House panel has asked a top Planned Parenthood official to testify about the group's involvement in collecting aborted fetal organs for research.

Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee wrote to Planned Parenthood on Friday, asking for its medical director, Deborah Nucatola, to appear before the panel by the end of the month.

They want Nucatola to "explain specifically the context and meaning of her statements on the video, what comments were edited or not portrayed accurately, and to provide information so that we may better understand your organization's practices and standards relating to the collection and sale of fetal tissue."

The undercover video released this week features Nucatola discussing how abortion doctors collect aborted fetal tissue for biomedical companies, who then sell it to medical researchers.

Republicans have since launched an investigation of Planned Parenthood, saying they want to find out whether it has broken the law by performing partial birth abortions or by profiting from the sale of human organs.

The letter was signed by Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and 14 other Republicans.

"Dr. Nucatola's statements raise most troubling questions with regard to your organization's practices when performing abortions and whether those practices are consistent with federal law, including those laws restricting partial birth abortions and the sale of human fetal tissue," they wrote.